Western Wall, Western Wall

In its entirety however, the above ground portion of the Western Wall stretches for , most of which is hidden behind residential structures built along its length. Other revealed sections include the southern part of the Wall which measures approximately 80 metres and another much shorter section known as the Little Western Wall which is located close to the Iron Gate. The wall functions as a retaining wall, built to support the extensive renovations that Herod the Great carried out around 19 BCE. Herod expanded the small quasi-natural plateau on which the First and Second Temples stood into the wide expanse of the Temple Mount visible today.

The Second Temple was completed and dedicated in 516 BCE. In around 19 BCE Herod the Great began a massive expansion project on the Temple Mount. He artificially expanded the area which resulted in an enlarged platform. Today's Western Wall formed part of the retaining perimeter wall of this platform. Herod's Temple was destroyed by the Roman Empire, along with the rest of Jerusalem, in 70 CE during the First Jewish-Roman War.

This was because an Imperial decree from Rome barred Jews from living in Jerusalem. Just once per year they were permitted to return and bitterly grieve about the fate of their people. Comparable accounts survive, including those by the Church Father, Gregory of Nazianzus and by Jerome in his commentary to Book of Zephaniah|Zephaniah written in the year 392 CE. In the 4th century, Christian sources reveal that the Jews encountered great difficulty in buying the right to pray near the Western Wall, at least on the 9th of Av.

Rabbi Eliezer Nachman Puah, (ca. 1540), relates: I have been told that in the day of Sultan Suleiman the site of the Temple was not known and the Sultan had every corner of Jerusalem searched for it. One day the man in charge of the work, despairing after much searching and inquiring in vain, saw a woman coming with a basket of rubbish and filth upon her head. He asked her: What are you carrying on your head? And she replied:Rubbish. And to where are you carrying it? To such and such a place. Where do you live? In Bethlehem. Is there no dunghill between Bethlehem and this place? It is a tradition among us that whoever takes a little rubbish to that place performs a meritorious act. The curiosity of the officer was aroused and he commanded a great number of men to remove the rubbish from that placeand the holy site was revealed. When the Sultan learned of this, he rejoiced greatly and ordered the place to be swept and sprinkled and the Western Wall washed with rosewater... In the second half of the 16th century, Suleiman the Magnificent gave the Jews rights to worship at the Western Wall and had his court architect Sinan build an oratory for them there.

It has become a place of pilgrimage for Jews, as it is the closest permitted accessible site to the holiest spot in Judaism, namely the Even ha-shetiya or Foundation Stone, which lies on the Temple Mount. According to one rabbinic opinion, Jews may not set foot upon the Temple Mount and doing so is a sin punishable by Kareth. While almost all historians and archaeologists and most rabbinical authorities believe that the rocky outcrop in the Dome of the Rock is the Foundation Stone, Radbaz Responsa 691: "Under the dome on the Temple Mount, which the Arabs call El-Sakhrah, without a doubt, is the location of the Foundation Stone."; Ya'ari, Avraham: Igrot Eretz Yisrael by Obadiah ben Abraham, Ramat Gan 1971: "I sought the place of the Foundation Stone where the Ark of the Covenant was placed, and many people told me it is under a tall and beautiful dome which the Arabs built in the Temple precinct." some rabbis say it is located directly opposite the exposed section of the Western Wall, near the El-kas fountain. Sternbuch, Moishe Teshuvos Ve-hanhagos Vol. 3, Ch. 39: In truth they have erred, thinking that the stone upon they built their dome was in fact the Foundation Stone, however, most possibly, the Stone is located further to the south in the open space opposite the exposed section of the Western Wall. This spot was the site of the Holy of Holies when the Temple stood.

Frishman, Avraham; Kum Hisalech Bearetz , Jerusalem 2004 Jewish midrashic texts compiled in Late Antiquity refer to a western wall of the Temple which would never be destroyed. Some scholars were of the opinion that this referred to a wall of the Temple itself which has long since vanished. Others believed that the wall still stood and was actually a surviving wall of the Temple courtyard. However, today there is no doubt that the wall is the western retaining wall of the Temple Mount and the Midrash refers to the Temple in its broader sense, that is, the Temple Mount.

Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer 35 Jewish Law dictates that when Jews pray the Silent Prayer, they should face mizrach, towards Jerusalem, the Temple and ultimately the Holy of Holies, Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 18:10. The Kaf hachaim (Orach Chaim 94:1:4 citing Radvaz Vol. 2; Ch. 648) rules that if a Jew was forced onto the Temple Mount and the time of prayer arrived while hes standing between the Western Wall and the place of the Holy of Holies, "he should pray facing towards the Holy of Holies even though his back will be facing the Western Wall." as all of Gods bounty and blessing emanates from that spot.

Henry Laurens, La Question de Palestine , Fayard, Paris, 2002 vol.2 p.157 Indeed, most historians believe that the Western Wall became a popular prayer area only after the Ottoman conquest of Jerusalem in 1517. There are, however, recorded instances of the wall being used as a place of prayer before the Ottoman period. The Scroll of Ahimaaz, a historical document written in 1050 CE, distinctly describes the Western Wall as a place of prayer for the Jews.

The earliest account of this phenomenon is recounted by the Munkatcher Rebbe and is recorded in Sefer Tamei Ha-minhagim Umekorei Ha-dinim . The story involves Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar who died in Jerusalem in 1743. A certain man came to him in great distress after he had become so destitute that he couldnt afford to buy food for his family. The Ohr Ha-chaim wrote him an amulet in Ashuri script on parchment and instructed the man to place it between the holy stones of the Western Wall. Sperling, Avraham Yitzchak.

A 17th century collection of special prayers to be said at holy places mentions that upon coming to the Western Wall one should remove his shoes, bow and recite.

The tradition is first referred to in a manuscript by Ibn Furkah (d. 1328) stating that Buraq was tethered outside Bab al-Nab, an old name for a gate along the southwestern wall of the Haram al-Sharif at the very spot presently known as al-Buraq. Other sources which referred to this tradition date from the 19th century and include the 1840 Deliberation refusing the Jews the right to pave the area in front of the wall and the map of Jerusalem by Wilson (1865) that names the area around the Wailing Wall Hosh al-Buraq.

Another high ranking Egyptian Muslim authority, Mufti Nasr Fradid Wassel, has decreed that the Western Wall remain an Islamic endowment for ever, explaining that it is a part of the western wall of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. He added that the Wall would belong to Muslims all over the world "until the end of earth" and that it is religiously forbidden for Muslims to refer to Buraq Wall as the Wailing Wall.

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